Far More Than Rubies

Laura is amazing. She's been coming down with a cold, Grace just got her first tooth, and work was really busy at the end of last week, so she hasn't been able to rest very much. I was able to stay home from work today and take care of Grace and let her rest. Even though she hasn't cooked for several days, we've been enjoying delicious meals thanks to the stores that she puts away when she's feeling better. We had enchiladas & rice last week, which gave us burritos this weekend, I've had homemade granola for breakfast every morning and sandwiches for lunch on homemade bread, and we ate tacos for supper tonight (spicy food is good for a cold). She brings food from afar and provides food for our household, and I don't have to worry about anything except for giving her rest and figuring out the defrost settings on the microwave. :)

That's not why I love her, but it is lovely. I love you, Laura!
- Caleb

Grace's Fifth Month

I can't believe how the time flies by! Grace is about 5 and a half months now, and it's been an amazing few weeks!

Around January 5th or 6th, she started rolling from her back to her tummy, and she's discovered she'd much prefer sleeping on her side or tummy than her back . After being inundated with "babies must be put to sleep on their backs or they'll succomb to SIDS" for so long, this was a little alarming at first. As soon as I'd put her down on her back, she'd roll right back over. But I figure Caleb and I both slept on our tummies as babes, and we seem to be ok, so we'll let her be. :-) Unfortunately, she hasn't quite got the hang of the tummy-to-back flip, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she'll cry until one of us rolls her back over. And she only rolls to her left side.

It's really cute though when she wakes up happy; some mornings when I peak in her room she'll be propped up on her elbows just looking around and talking to herself. And man, she loves to talk! Especially during church service.

Speaking of talking, she's officially babbling! Especially when she's mad, we get a string of "Mamamamamama!" I'd been thinking I heard a "mama" sound every once in awhile for a few weeks now, but early last week she really started going for it. And within a day or two, we were hearing some "Dadadadada"s too. Needless to say, we are two very proud parents.

She's just about mastered the art of sitting as well; she can hold herself up for a few minutes at a time, before she starts slowly tilting to the side. Sometimes she'll topple over backwards and look a bit startled for a second, but then she'll go right back to happily playing with whatever object her hands have found now. All this moving about has made diaper changing a bit more challenging, so we've started keeping a special "diaper changing" toy. And as long as she's got her little yellow duckie to suck on, she'll generally hold still long enough to at least get the diaper fastened.

And lastly, Grace tasted her first "solid" about a week ago. I'm not convinced rice cereal should count as a solid, as her first feeding was about the consistency of split pea soup, but it comes in a spoon which she finds quite thrilling. She is most determined she can feed herself, and getting the spoon to her mouth while dodging her hands and keeping it's full load would keep any fighter pilot on their toes.